GCL season comes to an end with a win and a loss

1B/3B Dan Johnson was granted his release from Triple-A Scranton according to Sweeny Murti. The Yankees weren’t going to call him up in September and this gives him some time to hook on with another club before rosters expand. Johnson hit .253/.379/.447 (133 wRC+) with 21 homers and more walks (93) than strikeouts (82) in 559 plate appearances for the RailRiders. They aren’t going to the postseason, so this opens a roster spot and some playing time for someone else before the season ends on Tuesday.

LHP Caleb Smith, this year’s 14th rounder, has been promoted from Short Season Staten Island to Double-A Trenton, reports JoshNorris. He’ll start one game of their doubleheader on Saturday. Seems like a temporary move more than anything. RHP Diego Moreno was placed on the DL for an unknown reason to clear a roster spot.

1B Greg Bird was named to Low-A South Atlantic League Postseason All-Star Team. There isn’t an actual All-Star Game or anything, it’s just a list of the best players in the league at each position as voted on by whoever. Bird leads the circuit in OBP (.423) and OPS (.940) but lost out on the league MVP award to SS Rosell Herrera (Rockies).

RHP Bryan Mitchell: 7.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 10 K, 2 WP, 7/5 GB/FB, 1 E (pickoff) — 78 of 107 pitches were strikes (73%) … ties his career-high in strikeouts … this might be the best start of his career, pretty good way to close out the regular season before the team has to decide whether to protect you from the Rule 5 Draft

Rookie GCL Yanks2 (5-2 win over GCL Astros)they finished 36-24 and in first place in the Northeast Division … they play the GCL Red Sox in a one-game playoff tomorrow with the winner advancing to the best-of-three championship series starting Saturday

SS Abi Avelino: 2-4, 2 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K, 3 SB — finishes the regular season at .302/.383/.401 with 19 walks, 16 strikeouts, and 28 steals in 32 attempts … guessing he was sent down from SI to help with the playoff push

RF Tyler Austin: 2-3, 1 BB — guessing he’ll stick around for the playoffs before joining the Thunder for their playoff run